Rome full of history but personally find it a dirty shit hole. Venice too crowded. Berlin OK. Prague and Budapest are great. Cluj Napoca in Transylvania Romania (ignore the fascist Farage) is a little gem with very friendly people and they nearly all speak English, good night life plus you can go down a massive salt mine.
“Rome is a dirty shit hole” - bloody hell, what you must think of some of the towns we visit for away games!
Anyway, Berlin is my favourite choice, any excuse to visit right now, meeting up there in November with @rikofold for Bruce Hornsby concert.
I love Vienna too. But Graz is also well worth considering if there is a direct flight from London.
And we liked what we saw of Lisbon, although we were staying with friends outside the city. Or in France, I'd go for Bordeaux. Also heard La Rochelle is great, direct flights from London (but maybe not at that time, and there certainly was an Addick with a BnB place there.)
Been about 25 years since I was last there ... can't believe the crowds in those pictures, it used to be so relaxed.
Wouldn't be too bad end of March, tbf, and easy to get away from the idiots in the evenings, but the weather usually isn't quite "Prague Spring" then, either.
Weve just come back from 4 days in Krakow, fantastic place for food and bars in the evening plus visits to the Wieliczka salt mine (albeit a bit too commercialised!) and Aushwitz, lots of other things to do including some very nice river tours. getting round the city is cheap and easy!
have done in recent years rome, paris, brussels, barcelona and dortmund
loved Rome - its a real easy city to do as there is tons, i had a friend who does a bit of travel writing as a hobby, who done us a great itinerary happy to forward on if of any use.
marseille along the port is reasonably pleasant aside from that toilet of a place - i was there the euros so maybe not a fair assumption, few of our pals stayed in l'estaque small fishing town that they do a boat to from the harbour again looks pleasant but then the locals decided to play a game of football with us on the beach whilst distracting us robbed our stuff ended up finding them an hour later and we all ended up in marseille police station next to the estate which ross kemp covered - an experience at least.
Antibes on the Côte d'Azur is also very good. An easy bus ride from Nice Airport (with its plentiful and relatively cheap flights),walkable, good restaurants and plenty of history (an old Roman settlement).
Rome is good if you want to sight see, but if you want to do something romantic and not have trapse around for miles stick to Venice, yes its touristy but still has charm. Only problem with Italy is hotels seem to be more expensive than anywhere else. Porto is also nice and Bruges i'd recommend, (you can drive there quite easily). Amsterdam is crap unless you really like art galleries
I'd give a shout out for the south of France. Nice is only 4 miles the airport and you'll be spoilt for choice with great restaurants and hotels plus it's a safe city, never seen a hint of trouble. Places such as Monaco, Antibes, Cannes etc are a short cheap train ride away. I'm flying to Nice tomorrow, I go for work and some leisure about 4 or 5 times a year and love it.
nice is very good, all be it a bit pricey the mrs family have an apartment there so we do save on accomodation costs, but eating out can be pricey, handy as monaco is only a train ride away and that can be a day out in itself.
Florence is direct from London City - 5 Euro bus straight into the city from Airport. Fantastic Architecture great restaurants,hotels, museums and piazzas and is small enough to be walked.
Big lunch (menu of the day) for main meal then tapas crawl on Cava Baja at night, finishing in San Gines for Chocalate and churros! Main sights - Palace, Prado and Reina Sofia museums, Retiro Park. Also the sky bars around Plaza de España for best views of the city. Have fun!
Have been to quite a few and it depends what you like doing as to which is best in my opinion. 1. Rome, excellent for few days, amazing how much Roman history and cathedrals/basillica within a very short walking distance. Food excellent 2. Florence, for the renaissance period; buildings and art if you like that 3. Madrid, nice well laid out city 4. Barcelona , Ultra touristy but mixture of different things to see. 5. Seville, nice smaller city, lots of good tapas. Warmer as further south and inland. We went Feb and was nice. 6. Lisborn, pleasant smaller city but not so much to see 7. Budapest, nice to walk around and visit but lacks a lot of signage as to what things are 8. Venice - personally didn't like 9. Vienna - interesting City with different periods 10. Berlin, excellent city with lots around (as some-one said March may be cold still)
Copenhagen is one of my favourite cities in the world so another vote there.
However given that you are talking about the end of March though Reykjavik might be an option. You could go see the Northern Lights which are best viewed in Spring and Autumn. You could also look at Northern Norway.
The city itself is nice enough but you'd mostly be doing day trips to go see specific things outside the city. The Lights are the main one, but the Blue Lagoon is incredible, and you have things like the Geysers, Glaciers and Volcanoes.
The beer in Bruges is lovely, and easy to get to on the Eurostar plus connection. It is very quaint and everything is within walking distance. The beer is great especially the local brew Brugse Zot.
The whole area is protected so there are no changes allowed to the buildings or roads. We stayed at the hotel Bryghia which was very good for the price, and the owners could not be more helpful.
The oldest pub in Bruges has a great beer garden that you can spend all afternoon in, and a great beer brewed on site.
Restaurants are plenty and very reasonable, 100 euros for a meal for two a good standard of food including wine.
Plenty of history and places to visit and the boat ride is worth 10 euros.
The beer in Bruges is lovely, and easy to get to on the Eurostar plus connection. It is very quaint and everything is within walking distance. The beer is great especially the local brew Brugse Zot.
The whole area is protected so there are no changes allowed to the buildings or roads. We stayed at the hotel Bryghia which was very good for the price, and the owners could not be more helpful.
The oldest pub in Bruges has a great beer garden that you can spend all afternoon in, and a great beer brewed on site.
Restaurants are plenty and very reasonable, 100 euros for a meal for two a good standard of food including wine.
Plenty of history and places to visit and the boat ride is worth 10 euros.
Oh and did I mention the beer is superb.
He's taking the missus, not a piss up. But it is great for Belgian chocolates as well.
Agim - you can't go wrong with Rome. Weather should be fine end of March and can be good. Plenty to do and see and great food and wine. I will be there end of Feb for the 6 Nations.
Rome full of history but personally find it a dirty shit hole. Venice too crowded. Berlin OK. Prague and Budapest are great. Cluj Napoca in Transylvania Romania (ignore the fascist Farage) is a little gem with very friendly people and they nearly all speak English, good night life plus you can go down a massive salt mine.
“Rome is a dirty shit hole” - bloody hell, what you must think of some of the towns we visit for away games!
Nowt wrong with a lovely day out in Middlesbrough or Hull.
Comments
rome, paris, brussels, barcelona and dortmund
loved Rome - its a real easy city to do as there is tons, i had a friend who does a bit of travel writing as a hobby, who done us a great itinerary happy to forward on if of any use.
At the end of March, you'd want somewhere in Southern Europe (or North Africa like Fez or Marrakech)
Not seen anyone mention the south of France, Nice and Marseille would be options
My recommendations would be Florence, Madrid, Paris or Copenhagen (though it can be pricey).
Florence is beautiful, and has great food.
Amsterdam is pricey but a great city for a romantic get away, as well as a lads trip.
Manchester
Newcastle
1. Rome, excellent for few days, amazing how much Roman history and cathedrals/basillica within a very short walking distance. Food excellent
2. Florence, for the renaissance period; buildings and art if you like that
3. Madrid, nice well laid out city
4. Barcelona , Ultra touristy but mixture of different things to see.
5. Seville, nice smaller city, lots of good tapas. Warmer as further south and inland. We went Feb and was nice.
6. Lisborn, pleasant smaller city but not so much to see
7. Budapest, nice to walk around and visit but lacks a lot of signage as to what things are
8. Venice - personally didn't like
9. Vienna - interesting City with different periods
10. Berlin, excellent city with lots around (as some-one said March may be cold still)
The whole area is protected so there are no changes allowed to the buildings or roads. We stayed at the hotel Bryghia which was very good for the price, and the owners could not be more helpful.
The oldest pub in Bruges has a great beer garden that you can spend all afternoon in, and a great beer brewed on site.
Restaurants are plenty and very reasonable, 100 euros for a meal for two a good standard of food including wine.
Plenty of history and places to visit and the boat ride is worth 10 euros.
Oh and did I mention the beer is superb.
You can visit the chocolate shop